Den of Lead (A,6)

This is the first in series of 2 decks based around my favorite card: Hot Lead Flyin'. I made this one first then basically made a Law Dogs version later. I've only played it in one OP kit tourney, was first in swiss but lost in the finals because of a stupid decision to stay in a fight after I had taken out all but 1 of their dudes with Hot Lead. My brother has won another OP kit tourney with an earlier version.

Strategy

The general idea for this deck is to use Den of Thieves whenever you can on lowball (when you've lost or when your opponent's hand rank is at least 2 greater than yours) to not only boost your economy but also to fuel your Outlaw Masks. Then, Hired Guns out Allie Hensman thereby enabling unlimited control and unlimited influence and forcing your opponent to walk out and face all your dudes in town square. Then you drop the finishing blow on them by showering them in Hot Lead.

Values-wise, the deck is 16/16 on Aces/Sixes with a very slight chance of an inside straight flush. Later in the game, The Joker's Smile can recycle your Jokers to help, but I've only ever pulled one straight flush with this deck in the ~6 games I've played since switching it over to this version (I've played many more games with a similar version of the deck and have won a vast majority). It mostly does quite well in lowball against 3/16 decks, though my luck here is generally atrocious.

My strategy for using Rico Rodegain is generally just to see their starting hand so you know how safe early fighting is. If I'm planning on using Travis Moone as well, I normally want to do that first because depending on my hand and the match-up there are a couple other options. Switching out J.W. Byrne for Angélica Espinosa in you don't have a Winchester Model 1873 and you know your opponent wants to get in a fight early can be a good idea. The other big thing to do when you suspect a more passive opponent is to switch out Jacqueline Isham for Allie Hensman. Finally, if you are feeling the need for more influence because you have none in your hand, you can switch out JW and Jacquelin for Jonah Essex and throw Allie out on top of that if you have a good deed in your hand.

Card choices

Dudes-wise, Sloane (Exp.1) and Jonah Essex are your shooter/influence dudes for mid-to-late game, all the other dudes are tailored to be cheap and re-playable. The majority of the time when taking casualties, you should err towards discarding multiple dudes rather than acing because they are cheap and you can get them back with Hired Guns.

Deeds mostly seem self-explanatory, 2 copies of The Place are mostly because I don't like the options left for 6 value deeds and I liked the money better than the discard from Killer Bunnies Casino, but going with 2 of those makes just as much sense.

I think An Accidental Reunion is a really important card for this deck, not only because it gives a little better cheating punishment, but also it is the best counter to the other headline cards out there that can really wreck your day. The basic idea is that once you realize that your opponent is counting on a headline like No Funny Stuff or Nightmare at Noon, you can play this as your first action and spend the 2 so you have it next shootout as well.

Ambush is the choice for targeted removal here mostly because it's a 4 which allows that inside straight flush chance. It's also nice in that it aces rather than discards, so if you have the money to play it, it's better than Kidnappin' against the pesky passive decks. The 2 copies of The Place help here money-wise, but I seem to most often just discard them because I like my position in town square. I wouldn't fault anyone though for switching over to Kidnappin'.

I have Hustled here because being able to boot someone like Xiong "Wendy" Cheng when they come into town square can be very useful, and also just playing it for the bounty and 2 money is always good, especially if they've done something annoying like used The Evidence on your dude with Outlaw Mask. The other option I like is Establishin' Who's in Charge, but I haven't tried it out yet here.

Other Card Options

Charlie's Place would be a great deed to run for sure, but it completes for space with Yan Li's Tailoring and Circle M Ranch.

Coachwhip! could be subbed in for Ambush if your meta basically doesn't include any passive decks.

A copy of The Evidence would never hurt.

I've thought about a copy of La Quema to provide a fun action and also to up the value of Travis Moone or one of the 6 value dudes into 100% Hot Lead Flyin' range.